Skip to main content

Free UK delivery for orders £30

Electronic Dreams

How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer

Electronic Dreams cover

Electronic Dreams

How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 14 May 2026
£14.40 RRP £16.00 Website price saving £1.60 (10%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

Bloomsbury presents Electronic Dreams by Tom Lean, read by Mark Meadows

Remember the ZX Spectrum? How about the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, or Commodore 64? Did you marvel at the immense galaxies of Elite or master digital kung-fu in Way of the Exploding Fist?

For anyone growing up in the 1980s, these iconic computer brands are the stuff of legend. In Electronic Dreams, Tom Lean tells the story of how computers invaded British homes for the first time, charting the history of the rise and fall of the home computer, the machines that took computing from the realm of science and science fiction to being a user-friendly domestic technology. It is a tale of unexpected consequences, when the machines intended to help with homework ended up giving birth to the video games industry; and ultimately, it's the story of the people who made the boom happen, the inventors and entrepreneurs like Clive Sinclair and Alan Sugar, bedroom programmers and computer hackers, and the millions of everyday folk who bought in to the electronic dream and let the computer into their lives.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Electronic Brains
2: Hobbyists Create Microcomputers
3: Computers for the Man in the Street
4: Computer Literacy
5: The Boom
6: Two Information Revolutions That Weren't
7: The Maturing of the Computer Game
8: The Unmaking of the Micro
Epilogue: Back to the Future?
Further Reading
Prices and Other Numbers
Acknowledgements
Index

Product details

Published 14 May 2026
Format Audiobook
Duration 10 hours and 25 minutes
ISBN 9781399431415
Imprint Bloomsbury Sigma
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Tom Lean

Tom Lean is a historian of science currently based…

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

Related Titles

Environment: Staging